The invention relates to a device for closing beverage containers, in particular a bottle. The invention also relates to an assembly of a beverage container, in particular a bottle, and a device according to the invention coupled to the beverage container. The invention further relates to a method for operating an assembly according to the invention.
Consumers nowadays have a wide choice of beverages to which one or more additives are added in order to provide the beverage with a supplemental value. These include for instance sports drinks, health drinks, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals or functional foods. These are practically always beverages produced and presented in a standard composition. These beverages are practically all based on water to which the additives have already been added during the production process. In order to facilitate consumption these beverages are generally prepacked in bottles, wherein the consumer can consume the beverage directly from the bottle, and the content of which is intended to be drunk within a time period of several minutes or several hours.
It is also known to initially separate the water and the additive to be added to the water in the bottle by initially storing the additive generally in powder form in the cap of the bottle, wherein the additive can be released and added to the water by uncoupling at least a part of the cap from the bottle. The beverage is thus prepared here by the consumer him/herself just prior to consumption of the beverage. The advantage of this separate initial storage of water and additive in the bottle is that it can for instance considerably improve the shelf-life of the beverage to be formed, and ingredients can be consumed which are present in liquid for only a short time. Such a separation of water and additive is moreover advantageous from a logistic and economic viewpoint because the cap can be filled separately with additive and then separately transported. Filling of the bottle with water and assembly of the bottle and the cap can subsequently take place at a geographically favourable location, whereby transport costs can be considerably reduced. An example of such a bottle is described in the American patent application US 2010/0200536, in which the bottle is filled with water and closed with a special device functioning as cap, the device comprising a basic structure for coupling to the bottle and a closing element coupled releasably by means of a screw thread connection to the basic structure. The basic structure encloses a passage channel for beverage, which passage channel is initially closed and filled with an additive in powder form, such as a water-soluble sugary additive. The passage channel is initially closed on an underside (facing toward the bottle) by a perforable foil and optionally with a more rigid closing member. Positioned in the passage channel is an arm which is connected pivotally to the basic structure and which is provided on the side facing toward the foil with a cutting member. A side of the arm facing toward the closing element is configured for co-action with a top forming part of the closing element. During unscrewing of the closing element from the basic structure an upper side of the arm will be co-displaced by the closing element, as a result of which the arm will pivot and the cutting member will perforate the foil, whereby the additive in powder form can drop into the water, the beverage can be prepared and consumed via the passage channel. The drawback of the known bottle is that it has been found that an additive in powder form can offer relatively great resistance, particularly in the case the additive is compressed to a certain extent, and this can make considerably more difficult, and even prevent, the pivoting of the arm and the cutting member so as to enable perforation of the foil.